[EVENT] Memory Tapes

[vrdr_mods]

On the morning of November 21st, denizens in the Velvet Room will awake to a message on their phones or by their bedsides in an envelope. Perhaps even on their computer screens.

Greetings! If you've received this message, then you've been selected as a participant in a new activity to strengthen bonds within this community.

In order to facilitate connections with your fellow residents, we advise you to watch this video. Watch it and return the tape to its rightful owner. If you lacked the means to watch VHS tapes before, we have provided you with the necessary equipment.

Failure to do so may put your own memories at risk. Do not be selfish, lest you find yourself struggling to recall crucial moments of your life. You have no way of knowing which memories have been shared, so ask yourself if it is worth the risk to selfishly hoard another's secrets.

They will soon find a VHS tape, with a case that gives off a soft, blue glow to symbolize its importance. If they lack a TV or VCR, they will find one in their living space.

What they do is up to them, but they should heed the warning, if they value their own memories.


[For links to characters' memories, please see this post in the OOC comm. Have fun!]

Comments

[willowandoak]

"...Do you want to take a break?"

Ren wants to get it over with, rather than spend more time than necessary dreading upcoming tapes. But maybe Goro needs a breather.

[lakebrat]

But he shakes his head. Anything could be lurking in there, for both of them. Or perhaps there's nothing for them at all—but he knows better than to expect such a blessing. "Let's see the next one."

He switches tapes, marking up the old one, and sits back down.

[willowandoak]

This time, the memory shows no one. Ren squints at the screen, confused and suspicious, until the camera turns abruptly to follow the bird, and it clicks.

"First person," he murmurs. Which makes sense, when you think about it, if these are memories. He glances sidelong at Goro.

[lakebrat]

But Goro recognises the room. He's leaned in, more curious than afraid, though with a tremendous sense of foreboding. Even so, there's a gasp, almost a laugh, as he recognises the book and the gun. Except then the camera turns to his mother, and his heart leaps up and chokes him.

She looks so... pale. Transparent. Like she could blow away. And the look on her face is almost alien—

Abruptly, the colour drains from his face. He leaps up and hammers the stop button, until the screen turns blue and empty; he catches his breath as his mind turns white. No, no. No. Never.

[willowandoak]

And there it is. One of their memories. He fucking knew it.

He follows Goro to the TV and touches his shoulder. "Hey," he murmurs. "It's not playing anymore. It's gone."

He could say, We don't have to watch it. After all, of all the tapes they woke up to, they can be sure this one is meant for him. If they don't watch it, it's Ren's memories on the line. But he doesn't want to lose them, so he keeps his mouth shut.

[lakebrat]

Breathing hard, he stares at the blue screen. He doesn't even want to think about that. She wasn't well. It was his fault. It isn't fair. And if they don't watch it, Ren is going to lose some memory, and it will be Goro's fault.

And Goro has already been through Ren's Palace. A violation he can never repay.

He whines in the back of his throat, presses back against Ren just to feel him there. "I'm going to shoot him. Right in the fucking face. What is the point of this?"

[willowandoak]

He pulls Goro close, staring over his shoulder at the TV and trying to keep his voice calm and even despite his growing rage. "He's lying. About the bonding thing. He just likes to fuck with us. That, or he's Maruki-level bad at understanding people."

The way to protect Goro is right there in front of them. They could just not watch the fucking tape, if Ren was a little less selfish. He kisses Goro's shoulder in apology, though hopefully it'll just look like he's trying to be comforting.

[lakebrat]

A tremor goes through him as Ren kisses him, fuck. He presses his cheek against Ren's mop of tangled hair. Even to protect his mother, he cannot force Ren to give up any more.

He presses the button, steels himself, but doesn't step back. He can already hear her, and forces himself to watch.

[willowandoak]

...Ren is glad Goro isn't looking at him.

He tries to keep his reactions to himself, and he succeeds, for the most part. But it was a mistake to hold Goro, because when his breath stutters and his body stiffens, there's no way Goro will miss it. I'm not your mother!

He has some fucking thoughts, put it that way. But he knows far better than to give voice to them. Instead, he leans his head against Goro's and gazes at the blank TV screen.

[lakebrat]

And Goro, for his part, has turned to bury his face in Ren's hair, all the air gone out of him like a popped balloon. His eyes are wet; he clings to Ren as if he's the one source of sanity and safety in all of the world.

[willowandoak]

"Shh." Ren cradles the back of Goro's head in one hand, murmuring in his ear. His attempts to be comforting sound something like this: "It's over. We can blow up the tape if you want. Use it as target practice. You're okay. Sharpen the corner and shove it right in Igor's freaky eye. I'm right here."

[lakebrat]

"No," he eventually murmurs, near Ren's ear with his face still buried. "I'll, uh. I'll keep it. Unless it turns to dust."

He feels like he's been beaten. As if someone picked up that overweight 90s television and slammed it right into his solar plexus. He feels like his body is outside his skin, like he has an exoskeleton, and nothing more besides.

"She's—she's not like that," he tries, hating the bleating sound in his voice. "She's really not like that."

[willowandoak]

"I believe you," he says, and he does. Goro acts a certain way about his mother, but it's not generally the way someone would act if their mother screamed at them like that all the time. That doesn't mean Ren doesn't have an opinion about the tape. But that's his own business.

"Do you wanna sit down?"

[lakebrat]

No, he thinks. And, though he hates himself for it, his hands betray him, clinging tighter, turning Ren's t-shirt into knots. But there's another question, too: What the hell is waiting in that pile for Ren?

"Might as well get it over," he says, forcing himself to detach, and not to say anything more like she's fragile, or she wasn't well, or it was a difficult time, and God, he knows the psychology, has written essays on it.

He sits down on the bed, still dead pale, eyes bright, face blotched red. "You want to pick the next one? Share the wealth."

[willowandoak]

Instead of choosing a tape at once, he leans down and gives Goro a kiss. "Once we're done with these, we'll go blow off some steam. We can fuck, or fight shit in Mementos, or have a bath or something."

He grabs a tape from the now-diminished pile and tosses Goro's onto the bed without looking. There. He fucking gave it back. As the next episode of this fucking shitshow begins playing, he settles grimly on the bed next to Goro.

[lakebrat]

"All three sounds good," he comes back, pressing closer to Ren than he intends. "You should probably eat something, too."

Assuming either of them can eat after this. But then he's leaning forward, stirring to life, because what looks like Leblanc quickly reveals itself to be only superficial, as a constellation of differences, of intrigue, lays itself out.

"This must be—Lotus's tape?" he says, touching his chin, turning sour. " 'The vulture', is it? Let me guess who that is."

[willowandoak]

"Yeah, it's Lotus. He talked to me about this one time." As the tape keeps playing, he tilts his head. "Not the Red Death stuff, though. That's kinda cool. He was, like... a fae Phantom Thief."

But even in Lotus's world, one of them is under Shido's thumb—because there's no way the vulture is anyone else, especially with the talk of Akechi's mother.

"Lotus wants to get Shido's name," he adds after the tape ends. "I tried to give it to him, but it didn't count."

[lakebrat]

Huh. "Because you couldn't give it, or because it was wrong?"

He snuggles closer, pushing his mother's tape further away with the edge of his hand.

[willowandoak]

"It was wrong. Like... the name was right, but I guess it doesn't count if the guy I know is from another world." He pulls Goro close. "I really wanted to fuck over alternate world Shido, too."

[lakebrat]

He lets his head tilt over, and shuffles down to lean against Ren, watching the blue screen. "So many Shidos... horrible thought. And so little time."

They're running out of tapes. There are only two left. "Imagine if people saw us as impartial. The Phantom Thieves, I mean."

[willowandoak]

Ren tries not to think about the countless Shidos. An army of Shidos. "Lots of Goros, too," he says instead, poking Goro's side. "Stern, impartial Phantom Thieves. Equal opportunity heart-stealers."

[lakebrat]

He recoils from the prod, trying not to giggle. "Denied companionship. All alone. Shit, that's a little near the knuckle, isn't it?"

He pulls Ren down onto the bed, instead. Kiss him, Ren.

[willowandoak]

Ren follows, leaning in and kissing Goro deeply, pressing the length of his body against Goro's and feeling his warmth. He can't stand thinking about Goro alone, so he doesn't. Instead he tries to make sure Goro knows that he's not alone, and never will be again.

Unless Ren dies after all, but never mind that.

[lakebrat]

He wraps one leg around Ren, drawing him close, kissing back, twisting his hands into that tangle of hair. Learning to have people, to hold them close in trust and care, has been one of the quiet wonders of his 18th year, and this feels like the culmination of it. There are those two tapes remaining to be watched, too. But, honestly, fuck them.

Unfortunately, the tape they left on the bed, the one of his mother, lands on the wood floor with a crack. Goro's head jerks up. "That fucking thing."

[willowandoak]

Ren drops his head onto Goro's shoulder in annoyance. "I can still shoot it. Drop it from a skyscraper, maybe."

He was having a nice time pretending the other two tapes didn't exist. But now the illusion is broken. Fuck.